Tim Leiweke said, “We’re made,” and he hustled across the court to embrace Jimmy Goldstein. Jimmy is the wizened guy in the custom leather outfits and the wide-brimmed hat who is a glamorous, spectral presence at NBA games that matter. He watches them in L.A., and he chases them in the playoffs. Toronto is the last NBA city he has visited. He’s finally here.

“Bryan Colangelo is a good friend of mine, and he was always trying to get me to come up here,” said Goldstein, wearing Drake-style black and gold. “But they were never in the playoffs.”

Well, they were, but that was a long time ago, and maybe Jimmy forgot. But he was here for Game 2 of Toronto’s circus-like first-round playoff series against the Brooklyn Nets. Game 1 was fun in every way but the game, and Game 2 featured Goldstein, Andrew Wiggins, Rob Ford, and Drake lint-rolling his pants during the play. Fame, infamy, GIFs, all that jazz. Show biz.

And that’s great. The NBA is show biz. Leiweke, the CEO of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, understands that; unless you’re San Antonio, you need to put on a show. Also, you need a working shot clock. That is helpful.

But the show doesn’t matter if the actors aren’t ready. The Nets were begging to be blown out in Game 2 so they could go back to Brooklyn and spend two days in an ice bath, and the Raptors couldn’t do it.

Instead, they wound up in one of those games that makes you hold your breath and then shout it out, and oh, did Toronto bellow. Kyle Lowry missed shots, then made them. DeMar DeRozan missed hard shots, then made hard shots that hung up like balloons before floating down. Toronto’s big men mauled the Nets. Mauled ’em. The nerves were still there, but they didn’t sound like fire alarms.

“I think every game is going to be a little better, for everybody,” Lowry said after the Raptors’ 100-95 win.

“(In Game 1), the lights were really bright for some of the guys . . . as the second game came, the lights dimmed a little bit.”

And Paul Pierce’s open three from the wing rimmed out with 24 seconds left. That was the difference, really — this time, a Hall of Famer missed a shot he’s been making since DeRozan was a kid.

“I think we all got scared,” said Raptors guard Greivis Vasquez, when asked what he thought when that ball was in the air. “I think we were all like, ‘oh no.’ ”

But it popped out, and this series isn’t over. And that matters.

“We really wanted to go out there and win and show the NBA and the league that we are a good team,” said Amir Johnson, who was his admirable self despite that sore ankle.

He was asked why it was important.

“Me and DeMar, we’ve been though the ups and downs of this team,” Johnson said. “We’ve been through 80-some players and different coaches. This year . . . I feel like we have a duty to prove that we are a great team.”

“We’ve been through all that,” said DeRozan, whose 17-point fourth quarter was the stuff of heavy shoulders. “Frustrating seasons, and we want everyone to know that when you play these Toronto Raptors you’re going to have to fight, you’re going to have to bring your game.

“For us to go through the struggle and start from the bottom and work our way up and still don’t get the respect that we deserve . . . we understand that we still have a long way to go.”

Increasingly appropriate Drake references aside, this series is about mattering, even a little. This is about standing next to Pierce and Jason Kidd and Kevin Garnett, or what’s left of him, and these moments. That’s part of why the first three days of this playoff series tickled so much of Toronto — tabloid wars! Hall of Fame jabs! Managerial profanity! The refs! — because it’s felt like . . . something. Pierce calling Ujiri “Bryan Colangelo” and Kidd pretending not to know Ujiri’s name was funny, but it held a weary NBA truth, too.

Who are the Raptors? Who cares?

And that’s what this could be if it’s good, right? Mattering. Ujiri’s F--- Brooklyn was less about the target than the sentiment. Draw a line, plant a flag.

“It’s not about the borough,” said Ujiri in a quiet moment before the game. “It’s not about Brooklyn. It’s about us, and beginning to stand up and rise, and be proud of who we are. Not just in this series, but going forward.

“To be relevant, you have to win, and that’s the truth. In any game, in any sport, in any league, to be relevant you have to win. We haven’t done that, yet. But we want to start to grow. We want to start somewhere. And let’s be confident with ourselves. Let’s do this.”

But Jimmy Goldstein saw no Western playoff games on the schedule, so he flew across North America and sat courtside and found a home team that was good enough, just barely, for a night. He stood at the end, just like everybody else. Goldstein loves basketball that makes people yell, even if he doesn’t.

The old Nets get one more recuperatory two-day break between games, and no more. Imagine if the Raptors found a way to play like the deep, fearless, snarling team that got here, end to end.

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